Edsa II and the Greenbase legacy

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
1/28/2011



Who is in need of turning public attention away at the moment? Who is capable of this? Who has the actual track record for such dastardly crimes? These were the first questions that came to mind when I heard about the Newman Goldliner bus explosion the other day.

My thoughts immediately raced back to the F-I-D-E-L series of Rizal Day bombings a decade ago where the masterminds, who continue to run scot-free, subsequently attained their goal of grabbing power from a popularly-elected president, with some Muslim insurgents cum “patsies” (manipulated dupes) falling by the wayside.

I also had flashbacks of Operation Greenbase, an exposé by the Bagong Katipuneros against a top ranking military general and Defense official, accused of ordering the bombing of mosques to create a crisis scenario. Now, it seems, these shadowy figures have good reason to mobilize their assets once again.

In December 2000, the masterminds created a sense of absolute failure on the part of government to secure public safety, thus laying the predicate for the forced removal of the national leader back then. In the Edsa-Buendia bus bombing, the timing and the probable suspects lead us to speculate that the motives may well range from a deepening investigation into the Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia caper to their eagerness to show how much more incompetent the present government is compared to theirs.

Echoes of similarities between those two bombings became more vivid as the former’s most lamented victim, Crizel Acusin, a little girl whose face was blown off, shared an eerily similar name with Kristel Ausena, one of the fatalities in the recent blast. But apart from this, one cannot help but get unnerved by the deliberate inhumanity of it all.

Among the theories that officials are circulating about Tuesday’s explosion is the involvement of Abu Sayyaf or other Islamic insurgents and extortionists. But many of these groups are known to be offshoots of military, police, and paramilitary black ops — let loose under continuing monitoring of handlers who hold dossiers to keep these elements under control and used whenever necessary.

The circumstances and timing of the F-I-D-E-L bombings point to such a similar scenario, where the conspiracy of military and police generals with “The Great Usurper” to topple President Joseph Estrada (boastfully admitted by Arroyo in the video-recorded Copa celebrations of 2001) was the most likely culprit in the different maneuvers that made it possible for the heinous crime to happen, e.g., opening access to the LRT (through the withdrawal of bomb sniffing dogs a week ahead).

Subsequent events involving generals of Edsa II and the capture, helicopter escape, and then rubout of Al Ghozi also point to police brass manipulation of these elements. Some individuals involved in that conspiracy have been in the limelight the past few weeks and may have believed it opportune to put some of these old assets to use this time around.

Whether there is actually this plot today doesn’t really matter. Media have now been effectively sidetracked from the heated investigations that lead to certain generals and people in authority.

But it really brings up the old questions again: If those who have conspired against the Rule of Law and have been shown to have used direct threats of treasonous military action and actual violence against the elected government of Estrada continue to dominate Philippine society, should we wonder why such atrocities as the Goldliner “terror” bombing keep happening?

Remember that these Edsa II personalities, from Gloria and Mike Arroyo to (ret.) Gen. Renato de Villa (who recently got featured in the Jan. 26 Business Mirror column of Manuel Buencamino), were on record with this quote: “Our group, there was a backup strike force… with orders to shoot…” And with their rogue columnists continuing to justify this dark chapter in our history, can it not be said that they and their brand of injustice are still very much around?

The respect for the Rule of Law has not been restored; therefore, the reign of justice and peace cannot as yet return. The culture of impunity will remain for as long as the corrupt and dehumanized powers continue with their Rule of Force.

We must pressure media to return to the burning issues of the day before this latest tragedy completely distracts us. The investigation into widespread military corruption, the network behind the carnapping syndicates and the recent spate of gruesome murders, the injustice of unending increases in public utility rates, the exposé on Supreme Court sleaze by victims of injustice, as well as the economic larceny behind the latest Cha-cha (Charter change) call must all proceed full steam.

In short, we must continue to expose the legacy of Edsa II and Operation Greenbase, which is the total failure of the present system and the parasitic ruling class that are destroying our society and Republic. Nothing short of a revolutionary reversal will restore justice and peace in this country.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, about “Crime and Corruption in Philippine Society” with PMJ’s Tito Guingona and Atty. Oliver Lozano; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)